'I don't understand, while they are here they seem to be so good, but once they reach Balamb... I don't know... I guess that's what you are here to find out.' Delta's face was a bit distressed and Selphie was touched by how deeply she cared about her students.
'We'll try.' Zell said, he was stretched out in a chair, his legs sprawled across the room. She smiled, no matter how serious the mission you could not repress him, he was too much his own person for that. 'But Selphie's the one that's going to be doing the hard work... I'm just along for comic relief.' He grinned and managed to put Delta and her assistants immediately at ease in one quick move. She was glad he had been assigned to come with her, nobody else in their little group was as personable.
'That being the case, I guess I should ask you what you will require in your investigations.' Delta turned to her. Selphie frowned slightly, considering.
'Well, I guess I'll want records of all students grades, you know I haven't really given this much consideration. But I'll have to accompany a student or two on your field test, I mean is it still the same test I had when I came here?' She asked and Delta nodded.
'This just may be me being dense but, I don't know what your field test actually is, I know we have the fire cavern, it's a little less intense now Ifrit has joined us.' He tapped his forehead indicating where the GF was residing right now. 'But still...' Selphie smiled at him.
'Well where do you think Shiva came from? The tropics?' She asked. 'Shiva was our resident Guardian Force in the ice caves, until some Trabia student finally bagged her, the place is still intense though, at least the equal of the fire caves, I'm saying that after being through both.' Zell shrugged and nodded.
'I was just asking what it was, Selphie.' He shrugged. 'It wasn't like I was having a go at you or anything.' Selphie winced a little, perhaps she had been a little tart in her response, she was still blaming him for the fight... but only a little, she was still mad at Irvine. 'Anyway, I guess I'll have a look at your teaching programmes, I'll sit in on a few classes.' He grinned.
'You'll be sitting in on more than the fist fighting ones as well.' Selphie said to him and he looked at her in astonishment. 'I know you quite well remember.' She said with a grin.
'Actually, I have a request to make of you.' One of Delta's assistants piped up.
'Yeah? Rupell isn't it?' Zell asked her.
'Roo actually, but anyway...' She tucked some of her vivid red hair behind her ears. 'I'm teaching a history class in the morning, we have nearly finished going through your battle with Ultamacia, it would be a real treat for my class to ask questions of people who were actually there.' She looked at them expectantly. Zell moaned.
'God that's depressing.' He said. 'Sorry, I guess it's having the situation described as history, it's still very vivid in my head.' Selphie laughed and agreed with him.
'It was a rather nightmarish incident, figuring out it was nearly ten years ago makes me feel old.' She grinned. 'But yeah, Zell can field that class.'
'Hey!' She looked at him innocently. 'If I'm going down everyone's coming with me! You ain't getting out of it that easily.'
'Oh I think I just did, sergeant.' He opened his mouth in offensive.
'You just pulled rank on me again!' He exclaimed. 'You never done that to me in your life and then twice in one day!' Selphie then realised that they were arguing in front of people that were staring at them with open mouths.
'Talk to Squall about your rank, not me.' She told him. 'Anyway, anything we'll need and I'll send Zell to come and get it.' She gave him an impish glance and he glowered at her. 'But I think talking to the students will be the best option.' Delta nodded.
'If I'm not available talk to Badier or Roo. They should be able to get anything for you. But I have to say that not much work will be done tomorrow. It's the winter festival.' She smiled. 'Would you like to attend?'
'Man I wouldn't miss it.' Zell said. 'Right Selphie?' She nodded.
'It will consist of a concert and then a quasi-formal dance, the music is fairly mordern, but formal attire is required.' Delta smiled at them. 'No SeeD uniforms.' Zell looked up in alarm.
'Zell only has his SeeD uniform as smart clothes to his name...' Selphie said with a grin... Delta smirked.
'Badier, I don't suppose you could take Zell down to Trabia town to get something please?' He nodded slowly. Zell sat up in his seat.
'Why do I feel like a lamb to the slaughter?' He asked.
'Because you have a persecution complex.' Selphie said with a wink.
*
Zell groaned as someone knocked on his door and curled further up into his blankets. They began knocking louder. 'Go 'way.' He yelled without taking his head from the pillow. The knocking persisted, wrapping his blankets around his head (he wasn't used to the cold) he answered the door. Roo stood there with a slightly bewildered look on her face. 'Can I help you?' He asked.
'You said you would come talk to my class.' She reminded him.
'But it's half six in the morning.' He moaned. 'No sane person gets up this early.'
'Classes start in an hour.' He stared at her in surprise, Balamb didn't even think about starting classes before nine.
'God you people are masochists.' He looked around his room and found his bag, he hadn't even bothered unpacking last night, he'd just fallen into bed and snored the night away. 'Okay, gimme a chance to get dressed and grab a bite to eat.' He yawned to himself. 'I would ask you in, but I think you wouldn't like the sight.' He closed the door and began to root around in his bag, he found a pair of old jeans and his favourite black t-shirt and stuck them on. He figured he'd better take a sweater with him, this being Trabia and everything. He looked in the mirror and grimaced, his hair had gone flat in the night... not that it really bothered him but he quickly spiked it, then, feeling satisfied opened the door again. Selphie had gotten up and joined Roo. She looked him up and down and grinned.
'See, I told you, variations on a theme, he has no smart clothes.' She said to Roo who grinned.
'I don't wear this all the time Selphie.' He told her with a grimace.
'No, sometimes the t-shirt is different.' He shrugged and his face cracked in a yawn. 'Oops, better not start with him, he doesn't wake up until noon normally. Anyway breakfast?' Selphie asked.
'Mmm, yeah, I'm supposed to take you to the canteen.' She gestured for them to follow her. Zell dropped into step with Selphie.
'You notice how scarily like Balamb this place is.' He grimaced. 'Except for the early morning wake up call.'
'It was built in line with Balamb's schematics and as for the early mornings, Trabia always operated on the theory that the earlier the day started the more you could party that night. No set curfew here, as long as you turn up to classes, you can do pretty much what you want.' Zell rubbed his eyes.
'A simple yes may have sufficed, I didn't need the tour this early in the morning.' He looked at her, she was always more a morning person than he was. 'Anyway what's your plan for the day?'
'Not much, going to sit in on a shinobu class, it's the weapon of choice here generally, after that it's the whip, we aren't too big on guns and swords.'
'Must be a personality thing, Galbadia is full of arrogent gits. Well it was the last time I was there... they're into the guns. Balamb's more measured.' She gave him a steely look.
'What catergory have you placed all Trabia students in then?' He looked at her suspiciously, her tone of voice hadn't boded well... time to lighten the conversation.
'Hyperactive, everyone's so damn cheerful.' He grinned at her and she laughed softly.
'Well that's true enough, you're gonna fit in just fine.' She winked at him. 'Anyway, let's get you fed... you have a class to talk to.'
'Please... don't remind me. I get to relive the past yet again... lucky me.' He frowned. 'One day I'm just gonna write a book with it all in and refer everyone to that.' She raised an eyebrow at him and laughed quietly.
*
Zell stood at the back of the class waiting for the students to come in. Roo was at the front of the class writing something on the board. 'Excuse me Roo.' She turned and looked at him. 'Do I actually know you?' He asked and she laughed.
'I didn't think you would remember actually. You were the instructor assigned to my group when we went on my field exam three years ago. You danced with me at the SeeD ball.' She looked at him with a grin. 'Don't tell me it's the hair that triggered your memory?' He grinned and nodded ruefully.
'I thought it might have been something like that. Don't actually remember you, I don't remember faces.' He smiled, she rolled her eyes and began to tie her hair into a plait. 'Kids be here soon?' He asked.
'Yup, why you getting nervous?'
'No, I'm getting petrified, I've done this bit too often to believe they'll be interested about the battles, most people ask questions about Rinoa and Squall. And ask if I'm really their friend.' She smiled at him.
'You might find this class different... they got really into the descriptions of the situation, all of them actually experienced the time compression as well. It really was nasty wasn't it.' Zell often forgot that the world had experienced that.
'I remember it being moderately so yes.' Roo grinned. It was then her class began to file in and he looked at his watch in surprise, they were actually on time... wait until he told Squall about this. Roo took charge immediately and introduced him. Zell wandered slowly to front of the class and sat himself cross legged on Roo's desk, it was how he taught most of his own classes, but those were more on the finer points of an uppercut than this history thing. 'Okay you know who I am... I don't know who you are... any questions?' One girl put her hand up straight away.
'What does it feel like to be a hero?' She asked him and he stared in frank astonishment.
'I'm not a hero, I'm a SeeD, I did my job.' He told her then a field of hands rose up.
'Weren't you scared?' Zell thought about it.
'Yes, but what choice did I have, my friends were counting on me. What if all six of us decided it was too scary and stayed on the drawbridge of Ultamacia's castle. I don't think we would be here now.' Question after question was fired at him and only one was to ask about Rinoa and Squall. Soon the class was over... it had been much easier than he had thought it would be.
Roo smiled at him from the back of the class and he winked at her as the last of the kids filed out.
*
Selphie grinned as the kids filed out of the classroom. She listened to what they had to say about Zell and nodded in approval. 'That guy is such a hottie.' One teenybopper proclaimed. 'He's so cool.' One boy in a group said. As the last of the kids exited the classrom she turned the corner and saw Zell winking at Roo. She frowned, did the guy ever stop? They were on a mission for crying out loud.
'Selphie!' He said with bright eyes as she walked over to him. 'God, did I ever tell you, I love this place.' She looked him in the eyes.
'No, you were always too busy making fun of it.' He completely missed the sarcasm in her voice.
'Heh, changed my mind. I'm starving, going to lunch?' She looked at her watch.
'You've only just had breakfast and we have work to do. Squall wants a daily progress report.' Zell grinned.
'Sure Selphie whatever. All he's doing is checking up on us, making sure we aren't screwing up.' Secretly Selphie had to agree with him, but she couldn't completely disreguard Squall in this matter.
'Okay, okay, we give Squall a call and then we head into new Trabia town with Badier... we'll get food while you're shopping.' Zell grunted his consent. Waving goodbye to Roo he followed Selphie down the corridor.
*
Rathi Makeri watched the two of them as they strolled out of the classroom, they didn't look as important as they were. Neither looked more than twenty five, but they had the power to put Trabia even more under Balamb's thumb than it already was. Rathi couldn't believe that Delta was actually listening to them, she was normally more intelligent than that. He had been trying to tell her to break away from Balamb for the past year or more but she was having none of it. She didn't realise the growing numbers of SeeDs that were coming around to his way of thinking, each Garden should be free to hire out it's own SeeDs. They didn't need Balamb to tell them when their students were ready, all the instructors knew which ones were going to go far. Rathi had been waiting for an oppertunity to force Balamb into listening to him. Maybe he had just discovered one.
*
The pair of them walked into Selphie's room and Zell flung himself into her comfy armchair. She sat on the arm of it. 'So how does it feel to be back home?' He asked with a gentle smile, she glanced at him.
'It feels different actually, it's not how I remember it. I guess it's just because I was a student back then. My friends have all either moved on... or...' She couldn't finish.
'Died? The wars after we got back from the future were tough weren't they?' She nodded sadly. 'But still it's home... isn't it?'
'I guess, but, I don't know... somethings missing.' She sighed heavily.
'Irvine.' Zell said and looked straight ahead, she bit her lip.
'Maybe, I don't think I ended things with him properly. He's been such a big part of my life for so long its hard when he's not here.' Zell closed his eyes breifly and put his arm around her.
'You want him back?' She shrugged in a sort of I don't know kind of gesture. He frowned softly and bit his lip. 'You know it's okay for you to say yes. You feel the way you feel and nobody will be able to change that. Not even Irvine.' Selphie nodded.
'You think I'm nuts don't you?' She asked him with a grimace.
'Not nuts, per se. Maybe a little off the wall. You love who you love and far be it from me to interpose myself on that. You know that whatever you chose to do, I'm behind you all the way. Your life, your choice and I will always defend your choice even if I don't agree with it.' He took her hand and looked her in the eyes, she nodded.
'Thanks Zell. I don't know what I'd do without you.' She said.
'Except be happy?' He asked with a gentle smile. 'Anyway, let's forgo calling Squall and if he asks it's my fault, let's head down town for a drink.'
'I'd rather go shopping.' She said and Zell rolled his eyes.
'Where's Rinoa when I need her... okay, whatever you want. Give Badier a call and have him meet us in the lobby. I have to go get something.' She smiled and he walked around the corner to his room. He waited until the door slid shut before he punched the wall. A small crack appeared in the plaster work and he sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands, why did he always stick up for Irvine? It was stupid, but he had been playing the devoted friend for so long he couldn't let Selphie see any other part of him. But it was her choice and if her choice didn't include him then so be it.